The Greatest Show Unearthed
by Slaughtermatic Sound-Wave
Summary: Raven and Acid were more than excited to go to the Dark Carnival on Halloween night, but what happens when people start to disappear left and right and her fate is no longer in her own hands?  Based on Creature Feature's Album. Rated M for violence/death.
1. Welcome To The Greatest Show Unearthed!

"C'mon, Acid, let's go!" I whined from the bottom of the steps. "Ok, coming Raven!" she said and ran down the stairs to join me. It was Halloween night and Acid and I were going to a carnival down town in our costumes. We were both killjoys, based off our favorite band's newest album. My costume consisted of: a purple corset with black lace trim along the bust and the bottom that had a design that made it look like black blood was splattered on it and laced up with black satin ribbons in the back, a black bandana with purple rose designs, purple raybans, black denim short shorts that were ripped, a black and purple studded belt, black floral patterned tights, and black combat boots with purple laces.

Acid's costume consisted of: a green corset with black velvet swirled designs, black lace trimming along the bottom and bust, and black snaps that kept it on, green raybans with a zebra print design on the legs, a green and black lace mask, green short shorts, a black and green studded belt, black tights with a spiderweb design, and a pair of green boots with black laces.

I grabbed my cell phone and jammed it into my back pocket before heading out the door with Acid on my heels. We climbed into my jet black 1978 Trans Am and I started it without a second thought. Music instantly began to blare, and it was one of my favorite songs: Na Na Na. I suddenly felt a new love for radio station 109.1. I drove down the streets in a hurry and Acid was practically shaking with excitement in the seat beside me.

Suddenly a brightly-lit sign appeared overhead that read, "ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK!" We both squealed with excitement. I sped up and drove into the half-crowded parking lot and backed into a space near the main gates. Checking in the mirror, I smoothed out my purple and black highlighted hair and quickly got out of the car. Acid checked her makeup one last time then joined me outside.

We looked at each other and smiled wide then linked arms and headed to the front gates. There was a long line outside the gate; all of the people looked pretty much the same: kids who were using this day to be someone they usually aren't. I began to tap my foot impatiently, while Acid groaned in annoyance. "Wanna sing a song?" I asked. "Ok!" she replied with a smile. I returned the gesture and asked what song she wanted to sing. "Hmmm... Teenagers?" "Alright!" And we began:

_"They're gonna clean up your looks,_  
><em>With all the lies in the books<em>  
><em>To make a citizen out of you.<em>  
><em>Because they sleep with a gun,<em>  
><em>And keep an eye on you, son<em>  
><em>So they can watch all the things you do.<em>

_Because the drugs never work,_  
><em>They're gonna give you a smirk<em>  
><em>'Cause they got methods of keeping you clean.<em>  
><em>They're gonna rip up your heads,<em>  
><em>Your aspirations to shreds<em>  
><em>Another cog in the murder machine.<em>

_They said all teenagers scare the living shit out of me!_  
><em>They could care less as long as someone'll bleed!<em>  
><em>So darken your clothes or strike a violent pose,<em>  
><em>Maybe they'll leave you alone, but not me!<em>

_The boys and girls in the clique_  
><em>The awful names that they stick<em>  
><em>You're never gonna fit in much, kid.<em>  
><em>But if you're troubled and hurt<em>  
><em>What you got under your shirt<em>  
><em>Will make them pay for the things that they did!<em>

_They said all teenagers scare the living shit out of me!_  
><em>They could care less as long as someone'll bleed!<em>  
><em>So darken your clothes or strike a violent pose,<em>  
><em>Maybe they'll leave you alone, but not me!<em>

_Ohhh yeah!_

_They said all teenagers scare the living shit out of me!_  
><em>They could care less as long as someone'll bleed!<em>  
><em>So darken your clothes or strike a violent pose,<em>  
><em>Maybe they'll leave you alone, but not me!<em>

_All together now!_

_Teenagers scare the living shit out of me!_  
><em>They could care less as long as someone'll bleed!<em>  
><em>So darken your clothes or strike a violent pose,<em>  
><em>Maybe they'll leave you alone, but not me!"<em>

We began to laugh at the odd looks we were getting but soon were silenced by a deep booming voice: "The gates to the dark carnival are now open! Purchase your tickets and then enjoy." The man's voice said.

The line soon began to move, and it was our turn to pay the entrance fee before I had even realized it. The ticket-taker was a really cute guy: he had dark brown hair with fringe he pushed to the side and chocolate brown eyes. "Hello," he said; his voice so smooth.

"Hi..." I said breathlessly.

He smiled and I noticed he was wearing a type of ringleader or magician costume. "How much is the entrance fee?" I asked.

"Well for pretty girls like you," he said, looking at us both then turning back to me and winking, "it's free."

I smiled wide and pulled him into a quick hug, "Thank you," I whispered into his ear and then grabbed Acid's hand and rushed into the carnival. We looked around and walked over to a map.

"Watcha wanna do first?" I asked.

"I'm gonna call Frank then do you wanna go to that show?" she asked, pointing to a flyer. I pulled it off the map it was stapled to and quickly looked it over: in the center was a picture of deep purple curtain, blue light surrounding it and giving it an eerie gleam. I nodded and waited for Acid to get off the phone. "Love you too honey, bye!" Acid said before hanging up her cell. "It says this show is at the 'Big Tent' and the next one is at 7, which is in 10 minutes. Let's go!" I exclaimed and took off in the direction of the huge, tall black and red tent in the horizon.

"Wait up!" Acid exclaimed before running to catch up with me. I raced her all the way to the tent, and I froze when I saw who was standing next to the entrance. Acid practically crashed into me, and sent me tumbling to the floor. "Oww…" I whined, rubbing the back of my head.

"Need some help?" I looked up and saw it was the same guy from the main gate entrance.

"Yeah sure, thanks," I said as he gently pulled me up. "What's your name?"

"Brendon Urie at your service," he said, tipping his top hat. I blushed then told him my name, "Raven Way."

"Well it was nice to meet you Raven, but I must get to work. The show is about to start. I'll see you soon," he said before walking into the tent. "Ohhhhh! RAVEN LOVES BRENDON, RAVEN LOVES BRENDON!" Acid yelled excitedly.

"SHHH!" I exclaimed, putting my hand over her mouth to quiet her. "Let's go get seats ok?" I pleaded with her, desperate that she wouldn't scream that I loved Brendon any more. "Ok." We walked into the tent and found relatively good seats in the middle just before the lights went out.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, BOYS AND GHOULS- STEP RIGHT UP!" Brendon yelled from the center of the big tent; I was instantly transfixed with him.

"BEHIND THIS CURTAIN LIES A GHASTLY CONCOCTION OF DELIGHT, HORROR, FANTASY AND TERROR! YOUR EVERY WISH IS OUR COMMAND, YOUR EVERY WHIMSICAL DESIRE BROUGHT TO LIFE. BUT I'M WARNING YOU- THERE'S ALWAYS A PRICE. WELCOME TO THE GREATEST SHOW UNEARTHED!"

The curtain rose and two men came out beside Brendon and they all bowed before fog rose around them and they disappeared. I looked at Acid and we stared at each other for a moment before sprinting towards the center of the big tent where all the guys were. Acid and I held onto each other as the fog seemed to get even thicker, but eventually we reached the other side of it; I gasped.

There was a huge house of mirrors. At the opposite end, there appeared to be the rest of the carnival. I glanced at Acid and noticed she looked nervous and excited at the same time. "Are-Are you ready?" I asked her. She gulped and nodded. We walked slowly towards the entrance when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Raven, I'd like you to meet Curtis and Erik. They created this carnival." Brendon told me.

"It's nice to meet you both," I told Eric and Curtis, shaking their hands. "I love this carnival, its fantastic!"

"You haven't even seen it all yet, you must go through the fun house of mirrors." Erik said.

"Yes, go on. It's quite fun." Curtis agreed, nodding as he urged on.

Acid and I nearly stepped inside, when I heard someone call my name. "Raven!" my brother, Gerard yelled. "Gee!" I exclaimed, wrapping my arm around him and giving him a tight hug.

"Frankie!" I heard Acid yell as she hugged her boyfriend. I looked around to see who else was here: Gee's girlfriend, Lyn-Z, my younger bro Mikey, Mikey's girlfriend, Alicia, and Ray. "Why didn't you tell me you guys were coming to the carnival?"

"I thought it would be obvious we would be here. I mean- hello! This is basically what I live for!" Lyn-Z said dramatically as she through her arms up in the air for extra emphasis. I giggled and nodded, "Yeah I guess I should have expected to see you. Well, we were just about to go through the house of mirrors, are you guys coming?"

"Not yet you aren't!" Brendon said. I stared at him oddly, but he explained: "You each must say what your biggest fear is before you enter the carnival."

Brendon handed me a piece of paper and a pen, and we each wrote down our biggest fears:

Frank- Buried Alive

Acid- Spiders

Alicia- Being tortured/Being kidnapped

Mikey- Big bodies of water

Gee- Needles

Ray- Heights

Lyn-Z- Zombies/Corpses

I was last, but I didn't want to admit my fear- let alone have it in writing! "Brendon, can I just tell you?"

"Of course Raven," he said kindly. I smiled at him and whispered into his ear: "Just…waking up in the morning and dealing with all the shit that is my life..."

He stared at me but nodded, and we were allowed into the house of mirrors.

* * *

><p>If only we knew then what I know now.<p> 


	2. The Disappearances

**A/N: HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**

**Anybody miss me? Sorry I haven't updated in literally forever! Please don't hate me :( I hope this chapter will suffice, please don't be afraid to review!**

**ON WITH CHAPTER 2!**

* * *

><p>"Brendon, are you gonna come into the house of mirrors with us?" I asked. I was slightly nervous, even though I had no idea why. I usually loved haunted houses, yet a house of mirrors suddenly sounded a bit too intimidating.<p>

"No, I wont be joining you," he said. I must have looked upset because he felt that it was necessary to cheer me up. "But I'll meet you when you're out, alright?" I smiled and nodded before having him pull me into a hug and walk away.

"Ray has to go first!" Mikey exclaimed once we were on the steps to enter the house of mirrors. Ray looked shocked and scared, "What! Why me?" he whined.

"Because if anything scary pops out, your 'fro will protect us!" Mikey said as though it was the most obvious thing ever. We all started laughing and began our journey into the house of mirrors. Ray was in the front, and Gerard and Lyn-Z were bringing up the rear. We bumped into a few walls here and there, but eventually we neared the end- or what we thought was the end.

There was a door at the end of the long walkway of mirrors, and I assumed it was the exit- but of course, it wasn't. Ray opened the door to reveal- blackness. Seriously, that's all we could see.

We slowly walked through the door way into the dark, having to feel the walls around us to know where to walk. After about 30 minutes (I was guessing because I didn't want to check the time and then accidentally drop my phone on the floor), we managed to walk into another door.

"If this door leads to another hallway, I'm gonna start screaming!" Frank yelled. He was quite claustrophobic, so this whole situation was pretty intense for him. I pushed my way to the front of the group until I nearly smashed my face into the door. Thank god no one could see that… I felt around on the door until I grabbed what felt like the handle. So, turning it to the right and pushing it open, we were met by the carnival.

"Whoa…" I heard Acid say to herself in awe. We walked out of the house of mirrors and walked around the carnival, but something was different.

This carnival wasn't like others I had visited throughout my lifetime. The people that worked here looked…different. Not to be mean and judge people on there appearances or anything! I've been judged by my appearance countless times. But these carnies didn't look like others I've ever seen. They actually looked pretty awesome. If this was some type of uniform I would totally work here! Wow maybe I should ask if I can-

"I see you made it out of the house of mirrors," Brendon said. I jumped at hearing his voice behind me.

"Oh my god, you scared the shit out of me!" Lyn-Z exclaimed, putting her hand over her heart to show how frightened she was. Brendon chuckled at Lyn-Z's priceless expression, "I apologize. You all should have a look around, perhaps go into our haunted houses."

"Hey Brendon, can I ask you something?" Acid stared at me intently, and maybe it's because I can practically read her like a book, but I knew she was hoping I would ask Brendon out on a date or something. I shook my head at her and her face fell before she pouted and crossed her arms over her chest. I had to stifle a laugh before talking to Brendon, "How do you apply to work here?"

Brendon's eyes lit up and a beautifully sadistic smile spread across his face. "I am so glad you asked my dear, later on we can discuss it with Erik and Curtis. But for now, enjoy the carnival! Remember: we close when everyone is dead!" he said before walking off into the crowd.

"Well you heard the man- move it!" Alicia yelled. We then began to walk deeper into the carnival, having to stop a few times so we could play games. The games were pretty much the same as regular carnival games, just tweaked a bit to fit the atmosphere better. Instead of bobbing for apples, Mikey, Gee, and Ray bobbed for garlic cloves. The carny explained that it was to "keep the vampires away." The rest of us didn't join in because if we were going to kiss anyone, we didn't want to smell or taste like garlic. Surprisingly, Gee won and his prize was a gigantic, furry spider with glowing red eyes. This made Acid start screaming her head off, and the rest of us (besides Frank who was trying to calm his girlfriend down) began to laugh.

When Frank had finally convinced Acid that it was just a toy and it couldn't hurt her, Gee gave his prize to Lyn-Z. Lyn-Z went to kiss Gee for being 'so sweet,' but stopped because she didn't want to take his garlic breath. Gee pouted for a while but he finally got over it. Next we played a game where you had to throw knives (yeah I know- how fucking awesome is that!) at these 'severed heads' and cut the string to get them to fall down. The person who got the head to fall to the ground first won. We all wanted to play, so we broke into teams: boys against girls. The winner of the girls team and the winners of the boys team would then face each other to see who was the real winner. As the old saying goes "ladies first," we stepped up first to play the slightly dangerous game.

We were supplied with 5 knives each, and Lyn-Z decided that she would throw first. She picked up a butcher knife in her hand and brought back her arm, before throwing forward with such force that it made a whizzing sound as it flew threw the air. Unfortunately, she didn't cut the string, but she did almost decapitate the carny behind the counter. Acid went next and picked up a regular steak knife. She brought back her arm and threw it so fast it looked like a blur. Again, the string wasn't cut, but she did get close. Alicia suggested that I go next, so I looked down at the knives I could use. Almost immediately, one specific knife stood out to me.

It was one solid piece of metal (maybe steel?), and it was surprisingly light, but very sharp. I brought my arm back, and carefully aimed at the string. I brought my arm forward, and again the whizzing sound occurred, but this time, the sound of a heavy object dropped to the ground as well. I looked and noticed that the string was cut, before jumping up and down with joy.

"Oh, fuck yes! Beat that bro!" I told Mikey as he and the rest of the guys stepped up to play. The carny retied the string as Ray decided he would go first.

"Be careful with that knife Ray! It would be so tragic if you chopped off a section of your hair!" Mikey yelled before bursting out into a fit of laughter. Ray mumbled something under his breath, but picked up a knife. He chose the same one that I did, but he missed the rope by a few feet.

"Me next, me next!" Frankie yelled impatiently. Eventually, all the guys had gone, and missed. But on the second round, Mikey managed to sever the string.

"Oh, you are so gonna lose sis," he said smugly.

"Don't be so sure of yourself, it took you two tries to cut that string- I got it on my first." I said, equally smug. Mikey said I should go first, by I declined his offer. He shrugged and reached for a butterfly knife, and put the lock on it so it wouldn't close mid-throw. Much to my amusement, his throw was nowhere near the string. I smirked before picking up the same knife I had used the first time, and taking careful aim. Right after I released the knife from my grasp, I closed my eyes and waited. Again, there was a whizzing sound, followed by the sound of a heavy object dropping to the ground. I opened my eyes and grinned wide.

I heard the girls behind me explode with cheers, while the guys groaned in defeat.

"Ha! Take that baby brother!" I said before walking over to the girls and giving everyone a highfive. After that, we decided to put the games on hold for a while so we could go into a haunted house or two.

As we begun our quest for the haunted house, we passed a very real-looking cemetery. Frank and Lyn-Z both shuddered at the thought of having to go in there, and were very happy just standing where they were now and waiting for the rest of us. Acid decided that there were mostly likely a "bijillion" spiders in there, and declined to go in as well. I groaned, "C'mon you guys, let's just go to the haunted house…"

We were about to go back the way we came and look for a map, when there was a laugh coming from inside the cemetery.

"Where do you think you're going?" asked Brendon as he walked out of the cemetery to join us.

"We were gonna go see if we could find a haunted house," Gee said.

"Oh, well then you are all going the wrong way. The best haunted house is through the cemetery. Once you reach the gates on the other side, just push them open and there it is."

"So we h-have to go th-through the cemetery?" Acid said, her voice shaky.

"I'm afraid so m'dear, but it isn't a long walk, and if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to go with you."

"I DON'T MIND!" I yelled, perhaps, too eagerly. Brendon smiled and nodded as he lead us deeper into the dark cemetery. I could hear Acid whimpering, and there was no doubt in my mind that her and Frank were clinging to each other for dear life; Lyn-Z was probably doing the same to Gee. I didn't mind the stroll through the cemetery though, and I jogged to make it to the front of our group so I could alongside Brendon.

"So I take it you're enjoying the cemetery?" he asked, breaking the veil of silence that masked the musky air around us.

"Yeah, definitely. This is amazing. The whole carnival is fucking amazing!" I exclaimed, causing something in the weeping willow trees overhead to stir. I stole a glance of the branches and leaves of the dead tree, but it was too dark to make out anything.

"Well I'm glad you think so, Raven. Most of our customers are either too frightened or too intimidated to tell us what they think, so it's nice to get some appreciation." Brendon said kindly. I grinned back at him and realized that I really liked this guy, but at the thought, I could feel my smile slipping away. I wouldn't be able to see Brendon ever again after tonight. The dark carnival has only come to this town once- and that was tonight.

"Raven, what's wrong?" Brendon asked, putting his hand on my shoulder.

"I'm never gonna get to have fun like this again. I have a feeling you guys never show up in the same place twice," I said sadly. Brendon regretfully shook his head as though to say I was right. I sighed and kept walking in the direction we were going.

"Raven? You said you wanted to join us, right?" Brendon asked. I nodded in response, not really feeling like talking.

"Well I think it's a fantastic idea! Curtis and Erik would most likely agree as well-"

"Brendon, we would most likely agree to what?" I heard Erik's voice from up ahead. I looked up and noticed the tall, ancient looking gate just ahead of us. As we reached it, Erik and Curtis appeared on the other side and gently pushed the gate open, making it release a disturbing creak.

"Raven said she would like to join us- I mean, work at the carnival with us," Brendon said to the creepy pair as we walked through the gate. The boys discussed the topic as we walked, but all I could focus on the was the gorgeously horrific mansion in front of us.

The windows were boarded up in some places, while others prominently displayed shattered glass. The building itself was a perfect description of a gothic mansion maybe a few hundred years ago, but now it was a picture-perfect haunted house. I couldn't help but stare up at the looming building in awe when I noticed we had finally reached the cracked marble steps.

"Ladies first," Brendon said as he appeared by my side and pulled open one of the massive double-doors. I smiled my thanks and cautiously stepped into the house, with my friends close behind me. Once inside the house, I couldn't help but realize the room had a bitter, pungent smell to it, and it made me feel light headed.

"Oh, I don't feellg sio good…" Alicia slurred as she started to faint. Mikey caught her just in time, but soon he started to look faint as well. I turned to the rest of myfriends and noticed Acid had already collapsed to the floor, along with everyone else.

As I felt myself lose my grip on consciousness, the last things I heard were maniacal laughter, and a devilishly sweet voice whisper, "Don't be afraid love…" into my ear…


End file.
